Star Wars Episode VIII: Path of the Dark Side
by pdaw101
Summary: All of the best theories and some of my own hopes for Star Wars Episode VIII Please review, comment and enjoy!
1. A long time ago

I do not own Star Wars or any of the characters in it!

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A long time ago in a galaxy far,

far away. . . .

 _ **STAR WARS**_

 **EPISODE VIII**

 **PATH OF THE DARK SIDE**

Six months have passed since the destruction of the Starkiller Base, and the First Order has called its greatest strategist back from the fringes of space to crush the Resistance.

Ben Solo also known as Kylo Ren has completed his training as a Sith under the tutelage of Supreme Leader Snoke, and has dispatched his Knights of Ren to every corner of the galaxy to find his uncle Luke Skywalker.

On the planet of Ach-To, Skywalker has taken Rey as his new apprentice and begun to train her in the ways of the force.

Meanwhile at the Resistance base on D'Qar, the ex-Stormtrooper Finn counts the days until his best friend's return, unaware of the danger looming in space above . . . .


	2. The Grand Admiral

I do not own Star Wars or any of the characters in it!

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The peace and quiet of the Ileenium system was interrupted by a flash of bright blue light and a loud bang as a massive ship exited hyperspace. The Super Star Destroyer named the Chimaera crept forward, its engines emitting a low rumble. Seated at the helm with tented fingers, was the blue-skinned Grand Admiral of the First Order fleet. His bright red eyes were assessing his next move.

Captain Dall was seated on the other side of the Dejarik board. He waited patiently for his commanding officer to continue the game. The Admiral was paying the game little attention, however. His mind was busy with tactics and strategies to use against the resistance. He almost did not hear the captain speak, "What is our plan of attack sir?"

The Admiral looked up, a smirk on the edge of his thin purple lips, "And what makes you so think that I intend to attack the Resistance base?"

"Our orders are to destroy the base, Sir."

"Wrong."

"Excuse me, sir?"

"Our orders are to take the Resistance base out of play. That does not mean we must destroy it."

"What do you intend to do then, sir?"

"I intend to capture the base for the First Order and use it as a forward operating post."

"How do you intend to capture the base? The Resistance surely won't surrender it without a fight."

"I don't need them to surrender, but if they do, which I highly doubt, then we arrest them and put them on trial for the acts of terror they have committed."

"And if they don't?"

"If they do not surrender," The Admiral spoke calmly as he made his next move, "I will kill them all." His eyes lit up as if fueled by his lust for war.

Dall flinched under his fiery gaze,"How do you plan on killing them? Our scouts and spies report it is the most heavily fortified base the Resistance has."

The Admiral sighed in exasperation, "Must I explain everything to you? Are you not considered an adult by your species? I thought it would be simple logic for one of the Order's most prominent captains, but no. Apparently they are just handing out titles these days."

Dall went very pale, "Of course not sir! I shall ready the troops for a landing at-"

The Admiral slammed his fist on the board, causing the holographic creatures to flicker. When next he spoke, this time through clenched teeth, his tone conveyed pure contempt, "You truly are as daft as a Bantha! I do not intend to attack them head on, or have you not been paying attention! We will wait in orbit of D'Qar, the Resistance will prepare to evacuate, and we will prepare to block their escape by activating the gravity well. Then finally we will fire upon them with everything in our Arsenal until nothing is left but broken X-Wings and dead rebels!"

Dall's face was crimson when he replied, "I apologize Grand Admiral, please forgive my ignorance. I will inform the engineering department to prepare the gravity well at once."

"Very well, captain," the Admiral said, his soft voice returning to its normal volume.

Dall stood and saluted the Admiral, before marching to the exit of the bridge.

The Admiral turned in his chair and called after him, "Captain Dall!"

Dall turned to face the Admiral again, "Sir?"

The Admiral drew a line with his finger across the board, and watched as one of the holographic creatures proceeded to tear a smaller one apart. The Admiral turned back to Dall, "I believe that is game."

Dall saluted again and exited the bridge. The Admiral turned back to the view screen in front of him. An image of the vibrant green planet that would soon know the power of Grand Admiral Thrawn!


	3. The First Smile

I do not own Star Wars or any of the characters in it!

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Finn was used to tripping and falling by now, in fact it was hard not to when he lost most of his spine and had to learn how to walk all over again with cybernetic implants. But today he'd had enough.

"Do you require assistance?" the medical droid asked in its usual dull lifeless tone.

Finn clenched his teeth, "No, thank you. I don't need help right now." He had learned to state himself very clearly or else the droid would likely continue asking.

"Very well," the droid responded.

Finn reached for his walking stick, which was leaning on the side of the treadmill. It was only a few inches out of reach. Luckily Poe was there to assist.

"Damn, you're stubborn," Poe said with a smirk, "first you refuse to die, now you refuse to stand up."

Finn merely responded with his best attempt at a glare, but he couldn't be mad at Poe, especially not when he was offering to help.

"Here let me help you up." Poe reached under Finn's arms from behind and pulled him up high enough that he could balance himself on his walking stick.

"Thanks," Finn said, "If you hadn't showed up I probably would've struggled for another twenty, thirty minutes."

"Don't mention it buddy. Lunch?"

"Lunch sounds good."

They walked slowly to the mess hall so that Finn could keep pace. BB-8 joined them when they passed the hanger. Finn was still learning to understand the beeps and whistles of asteomech droids, but he understood 'beep-beep-boop-whaaa' as "are you okay?"

"I'm good, just having a bit of difficulty getting back on my feet," Finn replied with a smile.

'woot-deet-boop-boop'

"Poe translate?"

Poe kicked BB-8 before translating, "He's asking if you're still moping about your girlfriend being at 'Jedi Academy' while you're here trying to walk."

Finn aimed a kick at BB-8, but when he swung his leg back down BB-8 rolled out of sight and Finn flopped to the ground. He cursed at BB-8 tumbling along in the distance, as Poe helped him to his feet again.

They finally reached the mess hall ten minutes later, and Finn was glad to rest his legs. While Poe went to grab their food Finn surveyed the tables and noticed General Organa sitting just a few tables away. He had only spoken to her a few times since their first meeting, he could tell she was still very much broken up about Han. She barely touched her food. Finn wondered how long she had been sitting there. His thoughts were interrupted by the clattering of two helpings of standard Resistance gruel hitting the table.

Poe sat down opposite Finn and began to dig in. After five minutes of complete silence Poe looked up to see Finn hadn't touched the gray liquid in his bowl. "If you don't want it I'll gladly take it off your hands buddy."

Finn didn't respond.

Poe turned and followed Finn's gaze to the General. "She's still grieving eh? Can't say I blame her, Han was a good man and she lost him to her own son."

Finn's attention finally turned to Poe, "I keep thinking I should've done something." He sounded a bit choked up, "Rey and me, we were within firing range of that bastard. We could've killed him and saved Han, but we just watched as that lightsaber tore through his heart."

"Don't beat yourself up man," Poe said consolingly, "Solo was stubborn, he would've jumped in front of the shot. Don't forget that Ren is his kid."

Finn looked down into his gruel, "I guess."

Poe didn't get the opportunity to reply because just then Jessika tapped him on the shoulder.

"General wants all available units in the briefing room in five."

"Be right there," Poe responded.

"Me too," said Finn.

"You can barely walk Finn," said Poe sternly.

"All the more reason to get going now." Finn stood and began his long walk to the briefing room.

Finn arrived at the briefing room with six seconds to spare. He took a seat among Poe's squadron as he usually did and waited for the briefing to start.

Admiral Ackbar stood in the center of the room along with General Organa and Junior Controller Connix. The General walked up to the Holo-projector to begin the briefing.

"My fellow soldiers, we all knew the First Order would find us after Starkiller Base, it was only a question of when. Unfortunately it appears they have chosen now to strike. A small fleet has been spotted in the Ileenium system on an approach vector for D'Qar. Admiral Ackbar has the details."

"As you can see," Ackbar began, he pulled up a hologram of several ships, "several star destroyers have entered our system accompanied by an older imperial class super star destroyer, this older model appears to have-"

"Did you say imperial class?" Finn interrupted.

Ackbar simply nodded.

"General you need to evacuate the base now!"

Leia turned to Finn and the eyes of the rest of the resistance followed. "Why? Do you know this ship?"

"Everyone in the First Order knows the Chimaera!"

"I'm sorry, what?" Poe asked, looking very puzzled.

"The Chimaera is the ship of Grand Admiral Thrawn."

"Are we supposed to know what that means?" asked Jessika in a slightly agitated tone of voice.

Finn growled in frustration, "None of you get it! Thrawn is the greatest military mind ever recruited to the Imperial or First Order Navy. He once defeated an entire squadron of Black Sun Headhunters with six unarmed escape pods, while he played Dejarik with his left hand."

"How can you be sure it is Thrawn?" asked Ackbar, his tendril-like beard quivering.

Finn retorted with a question of his own, "Have you seen any other ships like that in the last twenty years?"

Leia brought the attention back to the map, "Well it appears we'll find out in less than three hours. I don't know about the rest of you but I don't plan on giving up this base just yet. We prepare all ships for evac and then go on blackout to avoid all scanners. That way if we get spotted we're ready to launch. All troops dismissed!"

All the soldiers pilots and engineers began shuffling off of the benches, but as Finn began to stand up Leia approached him, "How are you holding up?"

"Not great. Especially now that I know Thrawn is on his way."

"Well I'm going to contact an old friend of mine. He's had some close calls with the Empire in the past, maybe he'll know about this Thrawn character."

"I hope so we're going to need all the help we can get. Which is why I want to ask again if I may have permission to contact Rey?"

Leia raised a skeptical eyebrow, "What is this? The sixth time you've asked?"

Finn blushed, "I just thought since we're going on blackout anyway...and if they try to contact us...and-"

"You don't need to explain yourself to me," Leia said with a knowing smile, "you miss her. I get it."

Finn's dark skin was tomato red by now.

"Go ahead. It's like you said we're going on blackout anyway. The First Order won't have enough time to trace us, but keep it short just in case."

Finn smiled wide for the first time in six months.


End file.
